A repeat offender caught behind the wheel with a driving ban has been jailed

Pictured is Jonathan David Topliss, 30, of Park Grange Road, Sheffield, who was jailed for 14 weeks after he admitted motoing offences including driving while disqualified in Derbyshire.

Jon Cooper

Published:10:34Updated:12:11Thursday 05 April 2018

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A banned motorist who was caught behind the wheel of a car on the M1 motorway in Derbyshire after taking his partner’s car has been jailed.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Wednesday, April 4, how Jonathan David Topliss, 30, came to the attention of police when he ran out of fuel on the northbound carriageway of the M1 motorway at Duckmanton.

Chesterfield magistrates' court.

Prosecuting solicitor Emma Price said: “The vehicle, a silver Mercedes, broke down on the M1 between Junctions 29a and 30.

“The Highways Agency monitored the breakdown and police attended and the defendant was sat in the vehicle in the driver’s seat.

“He smelled strongly of intoxicants and he was asked to take a test which he failed.”

The court heard that Topliss’s roadside breath test reading was registered as 105microgrammes of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath when the legal limit is 35microgrammes.

Mrs Price added that the vehicle had also been reported stolen by his partner who was the registered keeper so Topliss was arrested for taking a vehicle without consent and further checks revealed he had been disqualified from driving until 2020.

Topliss also went through the drink-drive procedure at the police station but he failed to provide two necessary evidential samples within a specific timescale, according to Mrs Price.

The defendant, of Park Grange Road, Sheffield, told police he decided to take his partner’s car to drive to Chesterfield where he met his old boss to talk about getting his job back.

He admitted consuming a couple of pints of cider while he was in Chesterfield but when he returned on the M1 he ran out of fuel and the car broke down.

Topliss said he had later tried to give an evidential breath sample but could not manage to do so and added that he has asthma.

He pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, taking a vehicle without consent and to failing to provide a specimen of breath after the incident on March 14.

The court also heard Topliss has eight previous convictions for 16 offences from 2004 to 2017 including, aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop, having no insurance and no licence.

Topliss was also convicted in February 2016 for drink-driving and was banned from the road for 12 months.

He was further convicted in October, 2017, of making off without making a payment, having no insurance and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent and for failing to provide a specimen.

Topliss received a community order for these last offences with a three-year driving ban.

The probation service stated that there had been a lack of compliance by Topliss with his community order but defence solicitor Annette Thomas said he had ben unable to attend certain meetings because he had been working away.

Ms Thomas added Topliss had made an “error of judgement” regarding his latest driving offences on March 14 and he deserved credit for his guilty pleas.

She added: “He got a call and made a stupid mistake to drive to Chesterfield by taking his partner’s car.”

Magistrates sentenced Topliss to 14 weeks of custody and ordered him to pay a £115 victim surcharge.